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Truman Burbank has unknowingly spent his entire life as the main character in the television show, The Truman Show. Every day Truman waves hello to his neighbors, is nearly attacked by a dalmatian, and drives his car to his job as an insurance salesman. All the while unaware that he is being watched by the world.
Truman is incredibly bored by his life but he can’t seem to figure out how to break free from his false reality. Though the theme of the movie may come across as comedic, the underlying message tells us a lot about the ways in which we accept our own mundane realities, never truly understanding how easily we can break free from them.
What Is The Truman Show?
The Truman Show is a 24/7 live broadcast television program that follows the life of Truman Burbank. Truman lives in the picturesque, seaside town of Seahaven with his wife Meryl. However, the town Truman lives in is merely a movie set, and all the people in his life — his wife, his neighbors, and his co-workers–are actors.
Seahaven is protected by a large dome and the only way out is to sail to the wall, disguised as the sky, where the exit door is. When Truman Burbank was born, he was taken from the hospital and placed into the false reality entirely orchestrated by television producer, Christof, who runs the show from the control room in the fake moon. Everything in Truman’s reality was strategically placed there for the sake of keeping the audience entertained.
Throughout his life, events were arranged to ensure that Truman did not find out his life was a show. Christof even killed off Truman’s father when he thought Truman was getting too close to the truth. When Truman’s college girlfriend tried to tell him his life was a show, she was also removed.
How Does Truman Break Free?
Though Truman might not be in control of his life, he has always had the power to take control and leave the show. Yet, it takes Truman most of his life to figure this out. Truman first realizes something in his world is off when he finds his father, homeless on the street near his job. Truman believes his father was lost at sea when he was a child, in reality, he was simply written off the show. The actor who played his father was recast as a homeless man who Truman runs into.
“He can leave at any time, if his was more than just a vague ambition. If he was absolutely determined to discover the truth, there’s no way we can prevent him.”
(( Cristof — The Truman Show (1998) ))
Truman also finds it strange that though he wants to book a trip to Fiji to find his college girlfriend whom he was told moved there, everyone in his life seems reluctant to allow him to leave the town. Truman starts to become aware that every single day the same events occur and no one in his reality will admit it. He attempts to leave town in his car but is met with spontaneous explosions, traffic, and other events that keep him locked in his town. Truman’s only way out is to sail to the end of the set. The problem is, since Truman lost his father, he is terrified of the ocean and of sailing.
Truman sneaks out in the middle of the night, sending everyone in Seahaven into a midnight search. However, they can’t find him because he is on a boat sailing towards the exit of the set. The producers try everything to stop him, they make the waves bigger in an attempt to knock him off the sailboat, but Truman keeps sailing until he hits the wall. Truman is forced to face his fear knowing that he will never be happy or know real life if he stays in the world he’s always been comfortable in.
What Does The Film Tell Us About Reality?
Truman’s life is very obviously manufactured. His daily routine is exactly the same every day, his town, filled with white picket fences and colorful houses, looks like it was designed for the camera, and all the people in his life speak like their reading from a script. It seems odd that Truman wouldn’t figure out his life is a show. However, if we look at the way people operate in the real world, Truman’s obliviousness doesn’t seem as strange.
“We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented, it’s as simple as that.”
(( Cristof — The Truman Show (1998) ))
Too many people spend their lives working jobs they hate or stay in relationships that make them miserable because they don’t believe that something better exists for them. They don’t go after their dreams, they disregard what truly makes them happy in exchange for going along with a role that was created for them by society, and they allow other people in their lives to influence their life choices.
Even if they’re not happy, they stay this way because they’re afraid. They’re afraid of trying something different and breaking out of their comfort zone and they’re afraid to accept that what they’ve known their whole life might not be the truth. In Truman’s case, he believed his world was real and accepting that it wasn’t, scared him. Realizing that he was the one who had to set himself free was even scarier.
How Does The Film Relate To Modern-Day Society?
In 1998, when the film was released, the idea of broadcasting someone’s life or unknowingly living in a false reality seemed absurd and comical. However, in 2020, this idea isn’t so far off from how we live. In the early 2000s, reality television exploded. From Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to The Kardashians and Jersey Shore, suddenly following someone around with a camera as they go through their daily life became normal. So normal in fact that as social media rose, the average person started to do the same.
Now everything we experience can be broadcast to the world as quickly as it takes to upload an Instagram story or a tweet. But this also brings up questions about what is actually real? Reality shows can easily be fabricated. In fact, Paris Hilton has admitted multiple times that she is not the “dumb blonde” she led people to believe she was but instead she was playing a character that was recommended to her by the producers of her show, The Simple Life.
The same goes for social media, it’s easy to convince your following that your out having the time of your life or you and your boyfriend are the Romeo and Juliet of your generation, but no one sees what occurs behind the scenes. Everything on social media and reality television is as manufactured as The Truman Show itself.
What Message Can We Take Away From The Truman Show?
The main message I take away every time I watch The Truman Show is, nothing is ever as it seems. We create the reality we live in based on our thoughts and actions. If we let the fear of the unknown get in the way or if we allow other people in our lives to control how we live, we will live in a continuous loop of mundane days.
“Good Morning, and in case I don’t see you, good afternoon and good night.”
(( Truman Burbank — The Truman Show (1998) ))
However, we can take initiative and we can create a reality in which we are truly happy, fulfilled, and unconcerned with what other people think. Then, we won’t need to put it on display for the world to see.